Seven years demanded for self-confessed cannibal
Seven years demanded for self-confessed cannibal
Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purbalingga, Central Java
Onlookers packed the Purbalingga District Court on Thursday to
witness the opening session of the trial of a man who confessed
to eating human flesh. Prosecutors, however, charged him only
with stealing corpses in the absence of a law against
cannibalism.
If found guilty, the 31-year-old Sumanto could be sent to jail
for seven years. This is the maximum penalty for theft with
violence under article 363 of the Criminal Code, the article with
which prosecutors have charged the self-confessed cannibal.
Sumanto shocked Indonesians last January when he admitted to
having eaten at least three human corpses to gain supernatural
powers.
Police arrested him in January after he stole the body of 80-
year-old Rina and ate it. He later admitted to have eaten two men
who attempted to rob him on separate occasions. No murder
charges, however, were laid against him.
Sumanto said that when eating human flesh, he cooked it,
charred it, fried it and sometimes ate it raw. The cannibal also
admitted to eating cats, dogs, rats and snakes.
He told the police he wanted to eat seven human bodies to gain
supernatural powers.
His defense team has expanded exponentially and already
consists of 13 lawyers, with others possibly on the way.
One of the lawyers, Dodi Riosembodo, said he had joined
Sumanto's defense team as the case was unique and he felt it
would be a challenge.
"We might get a case of somebody stealing a corpse about once
every 10 years, but as far as I know there has never been a case
in which the corpse was eaten by the thief," he said.
Another of Sumanto's lawyers, Nurcahyo, said the prosecution
charges were irrelevant as the defendant was suffering from a
psychiatric illness that made him unfit to stand trial.
Police psychiatrists have diagnosed Sumanto as a psychopath
but another diagnosis by the Banyumas Hospital found him to be
sane.
The trial will resume on next Thursday when Sumanto's lawyers
will respond to the prosecutors' charges.